Chance Encounters
by BlackxValentine
Summary: Alex was abused all his life until he finally decided to make a run for it, almost left for dead in the street before someone came to help him. Neither knowing what a big role they were going to have in each others future.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Prison Break**

**I thought of this out of nowhere and really wanted to write it. I know that Alex was raised in Detroit but I have set this where they moved away from Detroit to live somewhere else, I hope this doesn't upset anyone.

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**26 years ago**

"Alexander, get out here now!"

The seventeen year old gasped from the top of the tree, the cold weather causing his breath to be visible before his hand came to his mouth; muffling his gasps and hoping they hadn't echoed through the trees.

He sat on a branch high in the tree that was now completely bald, all the trees leaves buried in the white snow that had fallen not too long ago, the white substance now wetting his clothes on the branch as he kept as still as possible. A large man walked below him, waving a flashlight around the area again before heading up the hill and out of the teenager's line of sight.

Alex climbed down the tree slowly until his foot hit a loose part of the wood, causing it to snap under his weight, sending him to the ground on his hands and knees gasping for breath as his chest felt tighter. The flashlight shined in his direction, his shadow now in front of him as he scrambled to his feet and started running again, his father not far behind with a gun.

"When I get hold of you, I'm gonna skin ya alive and feed ya to the mutts!" He screamed over the roar of the wind through the trees as the moonlight shined over them, their shadows cast to the side as they both turned. Alex lost his footing and slid down a large hill of snow, getting buried when he reached the bottom and quickly making his way out to run again while his dad came down the hill after him.

Alex's bruised body ached, blood that leaked from cuts on his face practically frozen as his chest tightened again, his air suddenly off causing him to gasp as he ran. Falling a few times but still getting back on his feet in record time when a shot was fired off, his instant reaction was to duck; not feeling a bullet in his body he kept going until another one was fired.

It grazed his right shoulder which made him wince and instinctively put his hand over the new wound which was nothing compared to the other injuries his body sustained over the past 24 hours. Not to mention sleeping in a barn in the snow with nothing but the clothes on his back didn't help either.

'_I'm gonna die out here.' _He thought continuing to run towards town with his arms around himself, feeling like someone was beating his rib cage in with a hammer from them being punching so many times. He figured maybe one was cracked or fractured, either that or it was a bad case of bruised ribs.

Whatever the case he didn't care, continuing to pump his feet as the cracking of snow behind him let him know his father was gaining on him while the town lights came into view. When he finally got out of the woods and into the street lights of the town, weakly screaming for help and looking behind him.

Many people didn't do anything figuring it was some kind of prank until Alex stopped running on the sidewalk and began coughing hard before he finally collapsed. Falling to the side, landing in the small bit of snow on the ground which made people began to come over to him, a girl that looked a year or so younger than him knelt down beside him and was shocked when she saw the shape he was in.

Alex didn't see or hear his father anywhere, figuring his father went back through the woods to their small home when he'd reached the town.

"Hey, can you hear me?" The young girl asked not wanting to touch or move Alex in fear of injuring him more than he was, _"Help…"_ Was the only thing Alex could whisper, the girl nodded, looking at the small crowd behind her.

"Call an ambulance now." She said turning back to Alex and noticing out of the corner of her eye that some people still just staring at the fallen boy, "He needs a hospital!"

After what seemed like an eternity an ambulance came, paramedics coming out the back and began to place Alex on a stretcher, "You're going to be okay." The teenager said holding Alex's limp hand as he was loaded in the back before losing consciousness.

He woke expecting to find a broken down barn that barely had a ceiling, but instead he woke to a room that was practically all white with a beeping sound coming from the left side of the bed that he was lying in. The warm blankets heating his cold body as he blinked a few times before a man in a white coat walked up the bed and bent down close, turning on a small flashlight.

"Follow it." He said waving it left and right, watching Alex follow it slowly with his tired eyes until he put it away and wrote something down on a clipboard. "Wher-" Was all Alex could say, his throat was raw as a harsh cough hit him. It felt as if his lungs were being torn apart as his fit of coughing finally died down.

"Easy now, I'm Dr. Lambert. You're in a hospital, you were brought here after you collapsed in town with a case of pneumonia, some badly bruised ribs, along with quite a few infected cuts and small burns. We also found some scars and know this isn't the first time."

The doctor said all that so quickly that Alex could barely catch any of it, only a few words were clear but right now he didn't care about all that. "I need you to try and drink." He said putting down the clip board and holding a cup with a straw up to Alex who only stared at him.

"It'll help your throat." He added holding the cup closer until Alex was able to settle the straw between his lips and drink, the liquid came little bits at a time but every drop slowly soothed his sore throat until finished. Licking his cracked lips he watched the doctor pick up the clipboard again, "Son, I just need to know one thing. Who did this to you?"

Alex was quiet for a moment, licking his lips again and finally gathered he strength to tell the doctor it was his father who abused him. The doctor's only response was, "Hmm." Before turning away, Alex stopped him. "Please.. Could I… have some.. More water." He said in a raspy voice, his body begging to have more of the cool liquid that he'd been without for who knows how long.

The doctor nodded and filled the cup with a little more water; the man quietly helped Alex drink it all before leaving.

"I'm glad to see you awake."

His eyes shifted to the chair beside the bed to find the woman that had helped him, quietly wondering how he hadn't noticed her before now. "You?" He whispered, she smiled with a nod, her black hair falling into her face that she quickly brushed back behind her ear. "My name is Pamela Larson, what is your name?"

"Alexander.. Mahone."

"Well Alex, how are you feeling?"

"Throat." He said wincing, the sound of his voice telling her everything he was wishing he could say. "It's the morphine," she said sweetly while eyeing the bag that was connected to his IV. He managed a weak nod, finally knowing why his other wounds weren't paining him, "If you need anything just let me know."

"Why.. did you he-lp me?"

"Because no one should ever go through what you did, I helped you because.. You remind me of my mother." She said rubbing her hands together and blinking her eyes to keep back tears, "My dad drinks and used to… hurt my mom.. Until she left-" Her hand came to her mouth, her eyes shutting as the beeping became the only sound in the room.

"I'm.. sorry." Alex whispered to her, causing her to look at him and gently take his hand, an unspoken connection between them forming as she gave his hand a light squeeze. "Don't worry about me."

"Thank you… Pam."

"You're welcome Alex."

Pam was there through his recovery and offered him a place to stay at her Aunt's house which he accepted until he came of age and joined the military. Both of them unaware that in College they would cross paths again.

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**I apologize if this isn't that great, I wanted to write something for Alex's past and I wanted to make it where he and Pam met before College. I hope you all liked it, let me know if you want me to make it longer.**


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